The invention concerns a dongle comprising a module comprising an integrated circuit chip connected to contact areas flush with the surface of the, said module, intended to be connected to a port of a telecommunication device.
The invention also relates to a method of manufacturing the said dongle.
The field of the invention is that of the protection of data, access to the Internet, identification, electronic commerce, on-line payment, etc, by means of a dongle of the USB (from the name of the standard “Universal Serial Bus” in English) type connected to a USB-type port of a telecommunication device such as a computer or mobile telephone; the field of application is the same as that of the chip card.
The user of a USB dongle can connect it to a personal computer, disconnect it therefrom when for example the use of the dongle is no longer necessary to the application which he has launched and then put it on his key ring in order to connect it subsequently.
The dimensions and electrical characteristics of the USB port and consequently those of the part of the dongle which is inserted in the port are standard.
However, several types of dongle exist at the present time.
Amongst these, the dongle described in the patent application WO 00/70533 under the name portable reader can be cited.
This portable reader 1 comprises, as indicated in FIG. 1, a part 2 for electrical connection to a port of a personal computer and an insertion part 4 of a removable electronic module 5. The electrical connection part 2, also depicted in FIG. 2, has a plastic support element 7 on the surface of which four parallel metallised lines forming a connector for an electrical connection of the reader 1 to the port fit flush. A first line 8 is intended for a Vbus current supply to the reader, second 9 and third 10 lines are intended for communicating digital data to the said reader 1 and a fourth line 11 is intended for earthing the reader 1.
The insertion part 4, more particularly shown in FIG. 2, has a connector 12, insertion runners 26 for the module 5 and a protective shell 14 enclosed by a cap 15.
The connector 12 is composed of a set of at least four connecting lugs 16, 17, 18 and 19 each electrically connected to one of the connection lines 8, 9, 10 and 11 of the connection part 2, as depicted in FIG. 3. The other lugs 20, 21, 22 and 23 are connected or not for example to an ISO/USB protocol conversion element 24 and/or to a clock element 25.
The module 5 obtained using a method of manufacturing a chip card 29 and depicted in FIG. 1 is composed of a plastic module body 27 in which there is embedded an integrated circuit chip connected to contact areas 28 flush with the surface of the said module 5 and comprising at least four contact areas for supplying current to the chip, communicating digital data and earthing.
When the reader 1 is connected to the computer and the latter is powered up, this computer detects the presence of the reader 1 and data can be exchanged between the chip of the module 5 and the computer via the USB bus system, according to the application resident in the chip: protection of data, Internet access, identification, electronic commerce, on-line payment, etc.
The cost of manufacturing these dongles is high because in particular of the number of elements 2, 5, 12 to be manufactured, assembled and electrically connected.
The purpose of the present invention is therefore to propose a dongle which is less expensive to manufacture.